the wonderful turkey tail Trametes versicolor

this is my contribution to #FungiFriday by @ewkaw

it's been so dry here that fungi are few and far between these days. spring time is not the best time of year in general for finding fun fungi and this year has been particularly fruitless so far.

even so, on a trip to the beech forest earlier in May i came across a beech stump loaded with Trametes versicolor turkey tail.

this is one of the most common fungi in many parts of the world and it can be found year round. it'd so common that i often overlook it in search of other more seasonal edibles.

while it is common it is not often i find a stump so densely covered. if you are lucky you may find truly impressive numbers far more than this stump

it's easy enough to identify but you have to examine the under side which is white and smooth with very fine but visible pores.

otherwise they are leathery almost like suede. if you've ever seen a tom turkey tail you will surely recognize the resemblance. under the right conditions there's even a play of light in the coloration, much like bird's feathers. but the colors can vary a lot even on the same stump. here the blues and grays are far more prominent

or they may be washed out and pale. no two are identical but the form and contours are quite similar

these are newly forming on the same stump

apart from the sheer numbers and density these fungi have several amazing features. of course being so common they fill an important role in the life, death, and rebirth cycle of the forest by breaking down the cellulose and lignin in the wood for other organisms to complete the process of making nutrition available for new plant growth. in addition turkey tail are able to decompose other complex organic compounds including pesticides, herbicides, PAH, and bio-based or green polyethylene. they absorb heavy metal pollutants as well so they can be highly beneficial in cleaning up polluted areas not only in forestry but in agriculture and industry and maybe even your garden

while not directly edible due to their leathery texture they are nonetheless an excellent fungi to consume. they can be dried and powdered then boiled as tea or in soups, etc or they can be used medicinally in an extract made as a tincture with alcohol.

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if you search 'turkey tail' or 'Trametes versicolor' you will inevitably get a number of responses from sponsors selling turkey tail as medicine. with good reason because it is one of the best medicinal and most researched fungi available for a long list of ailments including cancer, inflammation, joint pain, viral infections and many more. it is great for immunity, detox, energy boost, liver and gut health and more.

while much can be learned from popular literature and sponsors
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214799324000699
provides a good summary of modern medical research on this wonderful species with vast potential